Building on an existing partnership, Augustana College is acquiring UnityPoint Health Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences in a cashless transaction, expected to take effect June 30, 2026.
Pending approvals from the Higher Learning Commission and other regulatory bodies, change of ownership will occur at that time, and set into motion an integration process of approximately 24 months, which will be complete upon final approval from the U.S. Department of Education.
The agreement reflects a shared commitment to expanding opportunities for students and preparing the next generation of compassionate, skilled professionals. UnityPoint Health will continue as a vital clinical partner in nursing education.
This acquisition will unite Trinity's 127-year tradition of excellence in nursing and health science education with Augustana's 165-year history of liberal arts and sciences education.
“This step reflects an exciting commitment to the future of health care in our region,” said Andrea Talentino, president of Augustana College. “By bringing Trinity College of Nursing into Augustana as one unified institution, we expand opportunity and promise for students and address critical workforce needs for our region. Our goal is to prepare compassionate leaders who understand the human impact of their work and are ready to serve our communities for generations to come.”
“This step really reflects a shared commitment to students, to academic excellence, and to the healthcare needs of the Quad Cities region.”
“The fact that these are two institutions that are absolutely committed to academic excellence, absolutely committed to serving the needs of our region and addressing the health care needs that we have, and absolutely committed to doing the best we can for students so they have the most opportunities at the time.”
“Together we're strengthening nursing education in a way that's stable, thoughtful, and built for the future and really connects to Augustana, in preparing people for the health sciences professions,” Talentino said. “In the health sciences, which is something we've been doing for a long time. For students, our message is continuity. We are absolutely prioritizing as seamless a transition as we can. We want programs to continue, we want faculty to continue, we want clinical partnerships to continue.
“We don't want to disrupt education and we do want to keep a strong connection and partnership with UnityPoint Health so that we're getting our students the best possible clinical experiences they can have and also really providing Unity Point Health with a great pipeline for highly skilled, really competent nurses so that if any of us end up there right, we know we've got an Augustana Trinity nurse and they're going to do well.
“When Tracy and her leadership from Unity Point came and talked to me about a year ago now, my answer was, yeah, we're really interested in that,” Talentino said. “We would love the concept of really building this together and thinking about how we unite these institutions. So this moment really fits squarely within our values, our goals.”
“I think you all know we have a shortage not just of nursing,” Trinity College chancellor Dr. Tracy Poelvoorde said Monday. “We have a shortage of health sciences individuals. The average age of the med lab scientist is 58 years. And so this is us coming together with a common, very similar mission and I would say very similar values to make healthcare better for the Quad Cities. That's what this is all about. And we're very excited for the opportunity.”
The acquisition builds on existing partnerships between Augustana and Trinity, including the direct-entry 2+2 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program launched in 2024 – two years of Augustana education, followed by two years at Trinity -- and an accelerated BA-to-MSN pathway. These programs create a seamless experience from an Augustana foundation into Trinity's clinical practice.
“This marks a transformational moment for nursing education in the Quad Cities,” Poelvoorde said. The 2+2 program reduced the amount of time Augie students can complete a nursing degree, compared to previously.
“For more than 125 years, Trinity has prepared nurses and health professionals who serve with skill and compassion. By joining Augustana, we expand our capacity to prepare students not only as skilled clinicians but as leaders equipped to meet the evolving challenges of health care,” she said. “Trinity has long been known for hands-on excellence; this next chapter allows us to build on that foundation with new opportunities, a vibrant academic community, and an even deeper commitment to the patients and communities we serve.”
According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, over 1 million RNs are projected to retire by 2030. As of 2022, 23% of RNs working in outpatient settings have either retired already or are set to retire within the next five years. In 2023, nursing schools turned down over 65,000 qualified applications due to several reasons, including lack of faculty. That same year, there were nearly 2,000 full-time nursing faculty vacancies.
Benefits of merging
“I think that one of the things we feel strongly about is that working together, we're going to be better able to manage that than Trinity could on its own or if we were thinking about doing nursing independently,” Talentino said. “It’s like higher ed everywhere these days. There's a lot of challenges, right? But you get stronger when you work in partnership and when you connect with others.”
The two institutions have had the 2+2 program since 2024, and Augie hopes to be able to expand the number of Trinity students each year.
“We would like to change that. And so yeah, that is our exact goal. When I talk about opportunity, it's to get more healthcare providers for the Quad Cities,” Poelvoorde said.
“We obviously have the advantage by coming together we can really kind of expand the infrastructure that's been working on this,” Talentino said. “Trinity's lean and mean and we have the advantage that with Augustana we have a little bit more built up recruitment system through our enrollment management program, our communication and marketing, all those kind of things. So we think they'll be really helpful.
“We get hundreds, and that's not an exaggeration, hundreds of inquiries every year about whether we have a nursing program. And previously we always had to say no,” she added. “Then recently we've been able to say, well, we have a two plus two. But not everybody wants to do this. So we're really excited that we're going to be able to start to say yes, we do that. It'll still take a little bit of time.”
As of July 1, 2026, Augie expects to “have more capacity to be admitting students to Augustana with the potential to move through that nursing program seamlessly,” Talentino said. “It depends a little bit on how the regulatory processes, the time frame they take. So we'll have to be a little bit patient with that. Our admissions folks, I had several on the virtual call earlier today, and I think they were ready to go out recruiting for nursing right now.”
It's unclear how many new faculty and staff Augustana will add to the nursing program, which has about 100 students, and graduates 40-50 a year.
“We can begin to recruit more students into nursing programs, and that's certainly a place to look. Then there's also attendant things along with that,” Talentino said. Poelvoorde said the plan to grow to 60-100 Trinity graduates a year.
“With our previous agreements, our faculty love Augustana and the graduates because they come with a worldview. It's a liberal education. They're able to think critically and solve problems,” she said. “And that is what exactly, that's what our faculty currently from day one in semester one is. You are taking what you're learning didactically and you're applying it in a real-life situation. And so even just the ability to communicate with a patient, which can be intimidating, I can't tell you how ecstatic the faculty are to have this now pipeline of well-prepared students coming to us.”
Augie will be renting the Trinity facilities next to the UnityPoint campus in Rock Island.
“From the students’ perspective, it will remain pretty not different, I hope,” Talentino said. “It'll seem from one day to the next they'll still be going to the same place, they'll have the same faculty, they'll be doing the same things. And so from their point of view, it should feel just like it did the day before the change of control.”
Poelvoorde said Trinity currently has a staff of 30 and Augustana will allow them to access more resources. “So we may have one individual over there, because of our size, that does maybe three things that someone over here does one,” she said.
UnityPoint perspective
Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UnityPoint Health - Trinity, part of a network of hospitals owned by the non-profit UnityPoint Health. Long committed to the training of nurses in the QC, UnityPoint leadership recognized the potential impact of this step on the level of health care in the region.
"UnityPoint Health is committed to improving the health of the communities we serve," said Shawn Morrow, market president of UnityPoint Health - Quad Cities. "Supporting this integration ensures the Quad Cities will continue to have a strong pipeline of well-prepared nurses, grounded in both clinical excellence and the rigor of an Augustana education."
Morrow also pointed out that UnityPoint will remain a key clinical partner in offering students opportunities for hands-on training and practice.
Current Trinity students will complete their programs without interruption and will graduate on schedule with fully accredited degrees. Students will continue to be served through the change in ownership and throughout the integration process, with a careful process in place to ensure stability and support.
To find answers to Frequently Asked Questions on the merger, click HERE.
This story was produced by WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. We rely on financial support from our listeners and readers to provide coverage of the issues that matter to the Quad Cities region and beyond. As someone who values the content created by WVIK's news department, please consider making a financial contribution to support our work.
